The Patna high court issued notices to VCs and registrars over delay in clearing retirement benefits to university employees, asked them to submit their replies by January 4, 2018.

The Patna high court on Monday issued showcause notices to all vice chancellors (VCs) and registrars over “inordinate delay” in clearing retirement benefits to teaching and non-teaching staff of different universities across Bihar.

A division bench of chief justice Rajendra Menon and justice Anil Kumar Upadhaya passed the order after the state education department informed the court that university authorities had not been sending complete papers related to retired employees.

Taking serious note of the matter, the bench also asked the VCs and registrars to explain in their replies why their salary should not be stopped.

The bench, which was hearing a petition filed by Krishna Kant Sinha, secretary of Pensiondhari Samaj of Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, posted the matter for further monitoring on January 4, 2018.

The court had on September 8 asked the state government to hold a meeting with university authorities to chalk out a mechanism to ensure payment of all admissible retirement benefits, including pension, provident fund, gratuity and leave encashment, within 30 days of retirement.

In his petition, Sinha has pleaded for a court direction to authorities concerned to ensure that all admissible retirement benefits are paid to university staff “without knocking the door of the high court”. He said many retired university employees were not being paid the monthly pension on the first day of the month.

The petitioner alleged that many teaching staff, who retired after January 2010, were yet to receive gratuity amount and the payment against leave encashment.

The Bihar education department is already burdened with nearly 4,000 pending court cases, including 1,250 contempt proceedings. Many of these cases are related to promotions, service matters and post-retirement issues.